NFP Partners has looked at common opportunities to avoid financial pitfalls through our article series. We’ve looked first at the core of successful accounting systems and financial reporting, the chart of accounts. In this article, we will look at more procedural or organization best practices. Many of the recommendations we discuss below are important to formalize, as they impact individuals and departments outside of the finance office.

Filing or Keeping Track of Your Nonprofit’s Documents

Have you ever wondered, where you filed a vendor contract for services? Or where did you save the treasurer of the Board’s approval of the monthly bank reconciliation? A filing system, electronic or paper, is key to ensuring efficiencies within the accounting department of a nonprofit.

Do you have programs that provide information to you, consultant contracts, or grant awards? Do you have a single common location to save them so everyone has access to the latest information? Most nonprofit organizations are moving to electronic storage of documents making that single common location much easier to attain. Files should have the same terminology if you are storing items, reports, and backup documentation electronically so it is easily identifiable with the source document.

A filing “map” of your electronic systems will help to ensure the system doesn’t go off the tracks. It is critical to have backup documentation accessible. Doing so helps everyone understand what project is affected and who is responsible. Furthermore, backup documentation provides insight on how much is allowable and who can authorize to sign.

Also, don’t forget to attach your backup documentation to what you are filing. Remember back to the day you had those stacks of paper on your desk and you didn’t know where to file them? Make sure your electronic system doesn’t end up the same way.

Schedules, Timelines, and Checklists for Your Nonprofit

Another item we have found is many nonprofit organizations do not have regularly established month-end processes with a checklist, persons responsible, and deadlines. These are important to maintain consistency with every month-end preparation and to ensure timely completion of tasks for the presentation of monthly financial reports to executive management, funders, and the Board of Directors. Here are more points to consider:

  • Be sure to communicate your nonprofit’s month-end checklist to others in your organization
  • Your development department may need to provide you with donor information by a certain deadline
  • You will need salary information from payroll to enter personnel costs for the month
  • Finally, are there supervisor approvals for time allocations that need to be submitted?

Our goal for each month-end close is to have the “books” audit ready. Establishing a checklist that follows the “prepared by client” (PBC) list provided by your auditor is a good first step in determining what should be completed at the end of each month. Preparing the PBC schedules regularly at month-end can help to make sure your financial statements prepared monthly are consistent with what the auditors will need at the end of your fiscal year.

By implementing some of these procedural “fixes” to the lessons we’ve learned from our nonprofit accounting clients, you should be on the right track.

For more information on how NFP Partners can help your nonprofit through our outsourced nonprofit accounting services, click here. To learn more about outsourced nonprofit accounting, visit our Ultimate Guide to Outsourced Nonprofit Accounting 

Anne Messerli
Nonprofit Accounting Consultant